One Second of Love

California native Ramona Gonzalez first began her transcendent minimalist dance-pop escapades in the privacy of her own home in Los Angeles with the aid of her multitrack cassette recorder. She very quickly developed her own unique sound, taking inspiration from European experimental electronic music and U.S. R&B pop, and began performing live in the L.A. area under the moniker Nite Jewel. Since the release of Nite Jewel’s mesmerizing 2008 debut Good Evening, the Los Angelese outfit has honed its lounge-pop-R&B craft across releases from Italians Do It Better,Mexican Summer and LA/Bay Area labels Gloriette Records and Human Ear, which collectively lead to a wealth of refinement and bold directness in both singing and songwriting. Then, in late 2011, the “She’s AlwaysWatching You” 7" appeared fromYour Truly’s Love Letters Inc. label, highlighting newly minted vocal styles for Nite Jewel and hinting at the maturation of its sound. On One Second of Love, the forthcoming Nite Jewel opus, you’ll find a re-imagination of Golden-era R&B pop; future-classic sounds alongside vocal sultriness. If Nite Jewel’s earlier work brought to mind the likes of Lisa Lisa or Debbie Deb on quaaludes, this new body of work may conjure up clearer images of Sade, Eurythmics-era Annie Lennox and Tracy Thorn. Produced with longtime collaborator Cole MGN (The Samps, Ariel Pinks Haunted Graffiti), the entire affair is pure, confident, singular-but-intricate and delightfully sophisticated. Nite Jewel’s evolution of fidelity and nuance comes to a head with the release of One Second of Love.